The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1887-09-24

IL was Il Drlgnt summer day,
continues the physician; "and all /
nature seemed filled with gladness
and life. l felt no pity for the poor
creature before me, because the
moment / cut into the scalp l was
filled with a mad desire to push my
skill to the uttermost. / began to
think could recrcate creature,
whose will, divested of its individ-
uality, could be made subservient to
mine. But enough of my thoughts.
Let me hasten to the last and worst
part of my confession, for it is con-
fession. The boy was subjected to
the same treatment as before, except |
that the trephine was used in the
left parietal bone instead of the right.
The opening was nearly opposite the
other one. l plunged the curette
into the brain and removed a por-
ton of the brain directly opposite
where the first removal had been
accomplished. Then, impelled by |
some devilish thought, I reopened |
the first opening, over which the
Acknowledgements substance was
beginning TO grow, and forced a ca
theter from one hole to the other A
rather profuse hemorthage warned |
me to cease, and l replaced the scalp |
flaps, and awaited Henry's return
to consciousness. The excitement
following the operation made me
weak and nervous, and leaving the
room locked the door, and went
into the street. Feeling the need of
a stimulant, | went into saloon
and took a heavy draught of brandy,
and then walked l know not where.
l seemed to have lost all recollection
of what had done, until it sudden
ly flashed across my mind that the
boy might come to and do himself
an injury. 1 hurried back to the
office and looked at the clock. 1
had been gone nearly two hours.
Henry was still seated in the chair.
He had not moved an inch. The
bandages on his head were precisely
as l had left them. I shook him
slightly and then spoke to him, but
he made no sign or motion. Then
l sat him in an upright position.
He remained perfectly motionless.
took him out of the chair and
placed him on his feet. He remain
ed standing as immovable as a block
of stone / lifted his arm, it stayed
in whatever position it was placed.
drew up his closed eyelids, and
they remained open.
"Like fash of lightning the
thought struck me that was a
murderer Yes, my dear wife, a
murderer. l realized instantly what
this cataleptic condition indicated.
Henry Bastian was no longer an ac-
countable human being. had ut
terly destroyed his individuality.
His executive and directive power
was gone. He was simply piece
of living clay-a vegetable without
a will; and as l looked at the ex-
pressionless face, the dull, sightless
eyes, the fixed limbs, l felt the same
remorse, l believe, as the assassin
who sees the hot blood squirting
from his victims throat. You will
remember that for months after
Henry became, as you supposed, an
idiot; l fed him with my own hands.
| feared to permit any one else to do
this, because my guilty conscience
told me it would result in discovery.
You will understand that the opera
ton did not interfere with the in
voluntary functions of the physical
system, and that to make him eat it
was only necessary to push soft food
down the throat until it touched the
epiglottis, and then the contraction
Of the muscles. made without will
power, forced the food into the
stomach. Can there be forgiveness
for me in this world or the next?
Am | reality" and here the
strange confession abruptly ends.
The doctors wife never saw what
was intended for her eyes alone, for
she joined the silent majority at
least year before her husbands
demise, leaving behind her two
daughters, who never knew of their
fathers crime and the terrible re-
morse that made his last days
miserable. Henry Bastian died in
the Blockly almshouse in 1875, hav-
ing lived six years practically with
out Il brain. He never made a
motion Of his own volition from the
day that the second operation was
: performed, and the surgeon and un-
/ intentional destroyer of his too will
, ing victim undoubtedly died of the
remorse that gnawed his conscience
ever after Cleveland (Ohio) Leader.